TLU Baseball Splits Doubleheader with Centenary on Senior Day

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran Baseball split their Friday doubleheader with Centenary winning game one 9-2 before dropping game two 10-8 at Katt-Isbel Field.

The Bulldogs (20-14, 9-8 SCAC) will look to secure the series in a pivotal game that will be the 2024 season's home finale tomorrow, April 20, with first pitch scheduled for 11 AM as the two teams seek to avoid the potential weather on Saturday. The game will be streamed on TLU's YouTube Channel, TLU+. All streaming and live stats links can be found on tlubulldogs.com.

Prior to Friday's game, Texas Lutheran honored its ten seniors: Dylan Swanson (Katy/Katy), Johnny Garza Jr. (San Antonio/McCollum), Aric Vasquez (San Antonio/Brandeis), Carson Draehn (Brenham/Brenham), Asher Bonnell (Round Rock/Stony Point), JT Taylor (Conroe/Fort Bend Christian), Coker Novosad-Wagner (San Antonio/St. Mary's Hall), Hayden Kesselring (New Braunfels/New Braunfels), Brendan Beard (Coldspring/Coldspring-Oakhurst), and Tyler Post (San Antonio/Johnson) in senior day festivities celebrating their contributions to the program as SCAC Champions.

Texas Lutheran combined for seven runs across the seventh and eighth innings to roll to a 9-2 win in the series opener.

Senior Brendan Beard pitched seven innings on Senior Day, allowing two runs on eight hits. He struck out five batters and improved to 6-0 on the season.

Mason Goudeau (Liberty/Liberty) wenr 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Hayden Kesselring and Xavier Arias (La Vernia/Nixon-Smiley) had two hits apiece with Arias driving in two runs. Aric Vasquez would drive in three, including a two-RBI single in the seventh.

The Gents held a 2-0 lead through Adam Peavy (Houston/Memorial) would get the Bulldogs on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run, his fourth of the season. Arias would score on a Gents error in the sixth to tie the game 2-2.

The Bulldogs jumped all over the Gents with four runs on four hits and another Gents error in the seventh inning. A bunt single from Mason Goudeau and a fielder's choice from Chance Greene (Round Rock/Stony Point) set the table for an Aric Vasquez two-RBI single to give the Bulldogs their first lead. Xavier Arias would later single through the right side to drive in two more runs to five TLU a 6-2 lead.

Texas Lutheran would load the bases to start the eighth with Chance Greene driving in a run with a bases loaded hit by pitch. Vasquez would drive in his third run of the game with an RBI fielder's choice that led to two runs to bring the game to its final score of 9-2.

Out of the bullpen for TLU, Diego Vinton (Richmond/George Ranch) would pitch two scoreless innings.

In game two, Texas Lutheran gave up 18 hits leading to 10 runs to drop game two, 10-8, to the Gents.

A pair of sacrifice flies in the first and fourth innings would give Centenary a 2-0 lead through four innings. A TLU throwing error and a pair of RBI singles would lead to three more Gents runs in the fifth inning.

After being limited to just three hits through four innings, the Bulldogs offense would come alive for three runs in the bottom half of the fifth on three hits. All three runs would come courtesy of a bases clearing, three-RBI double from senior Aric Vasquez, shrinking the Gents lead to 5-3.

Centenary would get a run back in the sixth but TLU would respond with two more runs courtesy of a two-RBI single from Chase Bourgeois (League City/Clear Falls) to bring the game to a 6-5 score.

The Gents would score three more runs in the seventh as they responded to every TLU rally with a rally of their own taking a 9-5 lead into the ninth before adding an extra insurance run to make the score 10-5.

Texas Lutheran would make it interesting in the ninth, scoring three runs via a two-RBI double from senior Carson Draehn and an RBI single from senior Asher Bonnell to bring the game to its final score of 10-8 with the Bulldogs rally falling short.

For more information on Texas Lutheran baseball and all TLU athletics, you can find updates on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics and @TLU_Baseball on X (Twitter), @tlubulldogs on Facebook, and @tlu_athletics on Instagram and TikTok).